A major Harry Potter-themed flagship and a store from Spanish clothing retailer Mango are planned in neighboring retail properties on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in deals that landlords hope will breathe new life into the city’s best-known retail corridor.
Warner Bros. is close to finalizing a lease to put a Harry Potter store in the multilevel space at 676 N. Michigan Ave. previously occupied by Express, while Mango recently finalized a deal to move into a space at 664-670 N. Michigan where a Tommy Bahama shop is closing, according to people familiar with the deals.
If the Harry Potter deal is finalized soon as expected, Chicago would follow the long-term Harry Potter flagship that opened in New York’s Flatiron District in 2021. There is still a chance the Harry Potter deal could fall apart until the agreement is signed.
The crowd-drawing concept could aid in the comeback of the Mag Mile, where overall vacancy has reached record levels after the onset of COVID-19, civil unrest and other challenges. Closings including a massive Macy’s flagship in the Water Tower Place vertical mall and the high-altitude Signature Room restaurant.
Significant vacancies have pushed down property values, leading to recent sales of a retail building at 830 N. Michigan for $40 million and a retail and office property at 606 N. Michigan for $47 million, both small fractions of previous sale prices.
The new Mango and Harry Potter stores would add to recent signs of a comeback, though, which include deals for Alo Yoga’s first Midwest store and a massive Aritzia clothing store.
The overall amount of available retail space on the approximately 1-mile stretch of North Michigan Avenue is 33.5% of the total, near all-time highs, according to Chicago-based Kirsch Agency. Yet with new leases, the middle portion between Chicago Avenue and Ontario Street is falling to 16.9%, Managing Broker Greg Kirsch said.
“We hit bottom in the first quarter and, based on tenants circulating the market and active [letters of intent], the recovery is well underway,” Kirsch told CoStar News. He is not involved in the two new deals.
“Transacting and touring are robust, and we’re seeing tenants once again view Michigan Avenue as an essential corridor to have a presence on,” Kirsch said.
Warner Bros. previously opened a short-term Harry Potter store with interactive experiences nearby in Chicago at the Water Tower Place vertical mall. It closed late last year.
Play opening
Advanced negotiations for the long-term space come as the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” opens Thursday at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago’s Loop business district.
Harry Potter theatrical productions and stores follow the highly popular series of J.K. Rowling books featuring witches and wizards. The books also led to blockbuster Hollywood movies including the “Fantastic Beasts” spinoff series.
The three-level New York flagship and previous Chicago pop-up have allowed Harry Potter enthusiasts to take part in hands-on and virtual reality experiences such as scavenger hunts, wand duels and drinks of butterbeer. Merchandise includes magic wands, capes, brooms and shirts.
Chicago’s Harry Potter store is set to fill a big hole created in the center of the mile-long shopping avenue when Express shut down there in early 2021, less than a year into the pandemic.
Hotel connection
The retail space is connected to the 347-room Omni Chicago Hotel. The property is owned by TRT Holdings, which also owns the Omni hospitality chain.
The space at 664-670 N. Michigan, at the base of the Ritz-Carlton Residences condominium tower, is owned by Acadia Realty Trust, a major retail landlord on the Mag Mile and throughout the city. It’s unclear whether Mango is taking space beyond the nearly 4,000-square-foot Tommy Bahama store.
Tommy Bahama, owned by Oxford Industries, is near the end of its lease after for years looking to sublease the space.
Acadia, Omni, Mango and Oxford did not respond to requests to comment. A spokesperson for CBRE, which is involved in both retail deals, declined to comment as did Warner Bros.
Barcelona-based Mango, a seller of men’s, women’s and kids clothing, is in what it described in a recent statement as an “ambitious expansion plan in the U.S.,” with new stores opened or planned in markets including Seattle, Atlanta, San Diego, Boston and Washington, D.C.
For the record
CBRE brokers Danny Jacobson, Stephen Ansani and Luke Molloy represent the landlords on both leases, as well as Mango. Warner Bros. is represented by JLL broker Matt Ramsey.